Freddie Gibbs “Black Illuminati” Official Lyrics & Meaning | Verified

- A lot of people are scared to rap now, you know what I mean? I don't think that people take the professionalism of rap and the craft really serious no more. I think that it's just become such a hustle.

I never rapped for streams, you know? I rap just to make good music. A lot of us are rapping and making music for streams, nowadays, which is cool, you know what I mean?

In the NBA, the game changed, niggas shooting threes, so you gotta shoot threes. At the same time, I think that you still gotta have that essence. Guys like Kiss still bring that to the table, and guys like me still look up to guys like that, so that was a blessing within itself.

I was just working on my album, really just in the process of that, working on this "SSS" album. I was watching the Dipset versus Lox on the "Verzuz" and I was looking at that and I was just like, "Damn man," I was like, "Jadakiss bro," he's definitely still one of my favorite rappers. When Biz gave me the beat, it was just like, "All right, I gotta throw somebody on here that could really rap," so it was just automatically Kiss, no question.

I was kind of just like playing off of the beat, and the way Biz set it up for me. With these verses like that you wanna put somebody somewhere, you know what I mean? You wanna put them in a place they've probably never been at, or a place they have been at that they're familiar with.

♪ Got a bag I can't bag yet, because it's still wet ♪ I took that motherfuckin' line from Biggie, you know what I'm saying? ♪ Took off my bag, can't bag yet because it's still wet ♪ I think that was on "Everyday Struggle", you know what I'm saying? That's like when you cook your crack and that motherfucker ain't dried off yet.

You know what I'm saying? That was me paying homage to Biggie there in that line. Whatever energy you putting out there in life, you know it's going to come back to you.

That's pretty much the reason I stepped away from the street and got into this, 'cause I wanted to really do something positive for myself, and I wasn't really giving a fuck about what my friends and nobody else thought, if I had to struggle to do this, to make it happen, I was going to do it, I didn't want to be a shoulda, coulda, woulda motherfucker, sitting in a jail cell, or working nine to five, somebody doing some shit that I don't like to do. You know what I mean? So this shit is life or death for me.

You know, that's just a part of life. You're going to go through that, regardless, if you keep living, you're going to go through that. So I know this shit sound cliche, but it's just like, as you get older, your circle kind of get smaller and tighter.

So, the less motherfuckers I'm around the better I could be. Right, you gotta kind of do it like that because I mean, you got kids that listen to this shit, that want to do this shit that you rapping about. So I feel like you kinda got to show them both sides of it.

You know, make them feel both sides of it, you know? 'Cause you gonna walk close to the fire and get burned eventually, but you can't say that I ain't tell you so, motherfucker, you know what I'm saying? I mean, just the clout factor alone changed everything that we do in life, you know what I'm saying?

Like, you got people doing shit out here, like worse than the crack era type shit. There's motherfuckers out here, like really jumping out the windows, robbing, doing all kinds of stupid ass shit, all for the fucking clout for the likes and shit like that, man. So, I mean, I don't know, man, this whole like intergalactic web shit, inter web shit, fucked a lot of people here, so it's worse than a drug right now.

So that's pretty much what I was going with there. I just feel like Black Illuminati was just a cool phrase, period. You know what I'm saying?

Like, I don't know, it just seemed like something just untouchable, you know what I'm saying, to me, and black at the same time. Honestly, I'm gonna keep it real man. Like, it was a lot of that day that inspired me when I was writing the song.

I was watching Jadakiss on the verses and I think I was in a mall or some shit with my baby mama and I walked past a Tiffany store and I seen Jay Z and Beyonce on the Tiffany ad. I mean, if you a box frame rider, you know what a Delta 88 is, you know what I'm saying? That's one of the cars that they made back in the day.

You know what I'm saying? One of your uncles probably had one with the plush seats. As far as the Countach, I don't know, a lot of n**** probably never seen one of those.

That's the "Miami Vice" Lamborghini. You know what I'm saying? So you gotta check that shit out.

You know what I mean? They got a brand new one too. You know what I'm saying?

You gonna see your boy, you'll see, you'll see it. You see it. Go outside, you'll see it.

I'm just a car enthusiast, so I just rap about the cars I got and the cars I like. Ah Man, that’s my best friend, man. I mean, my business partner, we don’t go a day without talking, all of this stuff is built off of, you know, mine and his back’s, our perseverance and our ideas, so you know.

And that was that. And that accident thing you know that was a real you know a fucked up moment for us. You know that was real brutal on him and he had to recover and you know.

While he, I think he was recovering I think I was like I think going on a tour or something or in the middle of something but whatever I was in the middle of it was a real fucked up time. You know what I’m saying? And I don’t ever want to go back to no shit like that.

The race where she came in like, ninth, or whatever, and I just seen that moment, and I was like, all right, yeah, and then I seen motherfuckers on the web laughing at her and all of that shit like that and, "A-ha," and putting up memes, you know how the internet is and shit like that. But I'm like, "Damn, like," for three, four weeks ago, y'all was saying she was the best since Jackie Joyner Kersee, you know what I'm saying? So it was just like, that just showed me how powerful of a talent that she is and she could bounce back from that shit, man.

You always, all of us hit a bottom point. It's all about like how you, you know what I mean, bounce back from that shit, and when I was writing this rap and shit like that, I used her name and shit, and I was like, yeah, I think she'll really fuck shit up, you know what I'm saying? I seen the confidence in her face when she did the interview after it, you know what I'm saying?

So I think she'll be straight. Everybody have a fucked up day sometime. You know what I'm saying?

Robert Downey Jr, Iron Man, one of the best superhero. Him and Batman is two of the best. They my favorite superheroes 'cause them niggas ain't really got no superpowers, they just richer than a motherfucker, like, bitch, I could be rich.

I could be whatever the fuck I want to be. I make a suit on you, bitch. I mean, when it comes to rap to me, I think that Tupac was that had the best voice for one, and I just think that he's the best delivery, I think he had the best.

. . You can argue if you want about whatever, technique and lyrics and all of that, but to me he the best rapper of all time, just, from just by the way he delivered the lyrics, you know what I'm saying?

The voice and the tone and the way he felt it. It's a lot of motherfuckers like, look, we could write this down right now, you know what I'm saying? You can give a nigga off the street my raps, you say Freddie Gibbs never existed, and give him the whole Bible of raps.

I guarantee he ain't going to motherfucking make it like me. He ain't going to deliver it like me. You know what I'm saying?

So, and it's a lot of guys like that in that realm, you know what I'm saying? The Jay Zs, the Nas, you get them, you can give a motherfucker the whole Nas book of rhymes, you can't deliver it like that, my nigga. You know what I'm saying?

And that's why these niggas are great. It ain't just about what they say. We all say the same shit, ain't nothing special about rapping about selling drugs.

Ain't nothing special about rapping about violence. You know what I'm saying? Ain't nothing special about that shit at all.

He talk about it. He talked about it. I talk about it.

We all talk about it. It's how the fuck you deliver it. You know what I'm saying?